BEST HOLIDAY EVER! Here in China we are celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival. If you aren't aware of the holiday, I would encourage you to read about it. It is such a neat story. Anyway, me and my friends (yes, I have been able to make some friends here! :)) went to 萍乡(PingXiang) which is in the 将死(JiangSi) province. It was about an hour away by fast train, which isn't bad at all! This was my view for the hour we were on the train. I may or
may not have shed a few tears seeing mountains that were covered in green trees. Oh my goodness, it was beautiful... It made me so happy.
Now, I have learned how beneficial it truly is to have connections. Let me explain. A friend of a friend lives in 萍乡 with her parents and they were kind enough to take us everywhere we wanted, including places they loved.
The first day we arrived, Lilli and her parents picked us up from the train station and they showed us to a park in the middle of the city. We laughed as we walked enjoying the views. Also, check out this beautiful flower! There were so many of these in the park
which I loved. After we spent some time relaxing, we checked into our hotel room, which is probably the nicest room I have EVER seen in China. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture, so just take my word for it. :) We then spent the night wandering the streets of 萍乡with Lilli. We tried some of their famous noodles called 炒面(chaomian). They were delicious! Instead of the noodles being in a broth, they were cooked with vegetables and meat with a little oil, then served hot. SO GOOD! When we walked out of the restaurant, we all were in awe with the sky. It was because of the awful air here, but it was PINK! It
was so cool! Lilli showed us a street in the city where artists had painted murals covering most of the walls. We never would've known where to go without her! So grateful. Now, some of the murals were quite interesting, like the one below, but how neat that the streets were covered in art. Close to 10 PM, we all decided we should head back to the
hotel because bright and early we were getting up for a hike! For those who know me, I absolutely LOVE hiking and nature. I knew it was going to be the highlight of the trip for me, and 武功山(WuGongShan) did not disappoint. It was raining slightly when we woke up, but the weather was perfect for hiking. Here I am at the entrance to the mountain.
Yes, I was wearing my Chacos. :) As we started up, I turned on my music and I was so happy. Lilli's parents decided not to come with us because it was a pretty tough hike. The views were breathtaking. We got to see numerous waterfalls, and I found it to be
even more beautiful with the slight fog over everything. We also found some sticks of bamboo we used as walking sticks, which I thought was cool. Seriously, I was happy for
the entire day. I loved it here SO MUCH! Along the trail there was portion where we hiked through a bamboo forest. Seriously... what a day! Wow. Also, I totally biffed it into
a tree... Ya see, I was so in awe with the bamboo, sky, and my surroundings that I wasn't watching where I was going and TOTALLY ran into a tree. It was nice. It wasn't my first time, but it made me laugh because I run into stationary objects everywhere I go, including China. :) As we continued to climb, the rain began to fall harder. My friends
thought I was crazy for wearing Chacos, but I was in heaven. Near the top of the mountain, a bridge called "Wish Bridge" came into view. As we got closer, we realized we were on the edge of one peak, but needed to cross to the other to continue climbing... You know what they means... We got to cross a suspension bridge. At the top of a mountain... It was an experience for sure! :) This picture doesn't do it justice for how
high up we were and how shaky the bridge was. As I stood in the middle of the bridge, I was able to look out to the sky with a mountain on either side of me and I was so happy. Maybe a little uneasy considering where I was standing, but I had the biggest grin on my face. I don't know if you can see in the picture, but the walkway going across the
mountain is where we hiked to get to the top. We were so high in the air! Haha! By this time, rain was pouring on us, but we didn't care. The views were too beautiful. Once we
reached the top of the mountain, we realized how much time we had spent. We had been hiking for nearly six hours. But, at the top we were able to tour an ancient Chinese
temple, which was amazing. As you can see, the fog had started to set it quite thick as we reached the top. On the way back down, the rain stopped and the fog began to part and I was able to capture my favorite picture from this weekend. Wow. Breathtaking. Ok,
on the way down, the girls decided to take the lift down. We got down in about an hour and a half. It was nice :). After the hiking adventure, Lilli's parents wanted to treat us to an authentic Chinese dinner. We drove for quite a while before we got to what looked like an amusement park. Yes, an amusement park. They told us we could relax in a grove of trees nearby and as I got closer I realized there were HAMMOCKS in the trees! I got to hammock in an amusement park in China. Check that one off my bucket list. :) After a
while, we were ushered into a VIP room in a fancy restaurant. Apparently Lilli's dad knew the owner. Again, it's nice to have connections. I tried food including: white carrot, famous egg dish, clam, fresh fish. All of which was quite spicy, which I am beginning to enjoy now! My favorite was the fish. They brought it to our table with the eyeballs looking at me and the mouth wide open so you could see its' tongue. They had opened the fish through the stomach, cooked it, then placed on the plate open it went. I learned how to eat fish using only chopsticks: tear what you want, then eat it straight from the plate. It was delicious actually; I couldn't look at the eyeballs though. It freaked me out. It was such a good day! We all went back to the hotel after dinner, and crashed. Then again, we were up bright and early heading to a "factory" where they make moon cakes. We were going to learn how to make them ourselves! When we arrived, I was shocked that it was someone's house. We walked in, and this is what we saw. It is a family owned
and ran business which has been in operation for nearly 60 years. Lilli's dad knows the man who has ran the business for the past 5 or so years. We got to see how they make the dough, how to mix the ingredients, how to cook them, and even how to package them. After we watched for a while, we got to make some of our own! How neat is that?! We were taught certain techniques of how to make them look the most appealing and be able to do so quickly. Here the guy is showing us to evenly break the dough for the
outside of the cake. Every piece had to measured to a precise weight, which I found quite interesting. After about an hour of work, we got to see our finished products! Here
is one of the 鸡蛋月饼(jidanyuebing) I made. It translates into egg yolk moon cake. They are quite sweet. We even learned how to package each moon cake. I left the factory with about ten moon cakes. Hopefully I can make them last a while! :) After the factory, Lilli's parents got us free tickets to see 翼龙(YiLong) Cave - again because Lilli's dad knows the owner. It was incredible! The cave was created over 1000 years, and you could tell. It took us about an hour and a half to see the entire cave. It reminded me on Timpanogos
Cave but with Chinese history. :) It was such a neat experience visiting the cave. For lunch before we left, Lilli's parents showed us to an authentic "Beijing style" home where we got to tour. I didn't take any pictures since it was somebody's home, but the neighborhood looked like one back home. To enter the home, we had to open a set of
big red doors, which is typical for these types of homes. We relaxed for a while in this home surrounded by bamboo trees enjoying each other's company. It was... nice. Peaceful. I loved every second of it.
Experiencing China through Lilli and her parents' eyes was incredible. I have a hard time describing how this experience has shifted my perspective on the culture here. It was different than being in Changsha. The people all knew each other... and I watched as good deeds were done thinking no one was looking. I watched families spend time together outside their homes, laughing. I watched people as they lived their lives and found myself so incredibly happy just because they were... I was able to meet family friends of Lilli's and converse with them in Mandarin. We traveled 萍乡on the "back roads" on what seemed like the country-side. It was peaceful. I loved it there. My oh my. I loved it. It was quite hard to get on the train and leave. I'm so grateful for weekends like these and I am so grateful for 萍乡for giving my the opportunity to experience China is a way that most will never have the chance to do.
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